Alessandro Vagnoni

Drummer / Mixer / Producer

I'm a professional musician and sound engineer living in Italy, playing drums (touring with many projects, including mine) and making on-line sessions. I can provide hi-standard drums trackings in my own studio, human-like programmed drums, audio editing and mixing via file sharing, producing. My cup of tea is Rock, Metal, Funk, Hip-Hop.

I always wanted to be able to record my own music, so I learned to play many instruments and started programming since I was a kid with my first Atari computer in the late 80's. I have recorded drums and worked as sound engineer/producer for many projects: Bologna Violenta (Italy), Wolfheart & The Malavita Anti-Social Club (Austria), Cult Of Lilith (Iceland), Bushi (Italy), Dark Lunacy (Italy), Angry Nation (Austria), Candyboy (Italy), Rakshasa (Japan) and many more.

When recording drums or mixing I am able to deal with different musical genres, from Death Metal to Soul music, from experimental and improvised music to Progressive Rock. My drumming style is the result of different musical personalities: Billy Cobham, Danny Carey, Tomas Haake, Stewart Copeland, Gene Hoglan, John Bonham, Carl Palmer, Billy Martin, Tim Alexander.
I've been largely influenced by sound engineers like Andy Wallace, Steve Albini, Tchad Blake, Jens Bogren and Alan Parsons.

I play exclusively Paiste cymbals and Vic Firth sticks.

Would love to hear from you. Click the contact button above to get in touch.

Alessandro recorded a second song for me - a fairly long and intense tune that would give many drummers a lot of trouble. Not Alessandro, he did great. He plays well and for the song, and records his drums well. I will use him again!

Excellent performance, efficient method and fast delivery of high quality tracks. Special attention to details and suggestions. I am very pleased with the results and I definitely recommend working with Alessandro! Thanks!

Alessandro recorded several times in my studio as session drummer. It was always a pleasure, never had an issue. He is precise and creative. He is a good sound engineer too, punctual like a Swiss watch. When I have too much editing to do he's the right person to contact :)

Alessandro recently recorded drums for a song I wrote. The performance was great and he nailed the feel I was hoping to achieve. He also sent over a Midi drum track prior to recording the live drums which was immensely helpful. I will be using Alessandro again. Cheers!

My brother-in-production Alessandro is an amazing guy and talented musician to work with.
He's my go-to drummer of choice for my productions and a hard worker. Hire him!

Interview with Alessandro Vagnoni

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: My work in the project Bologna Violenta (as a drummer and as a mixer/sound engineer) is very rewarding: the music is very challenging (technically speaking) and there's a huge musical research and accuracy in composing and arranging the parts. It's avanguard music and it's the music I always wanted to play and work with.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I recently worked for one of Enrico Tiberi's latest productions, a modern kind of R&B and Soul music from a guy called Yiran.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: There's a couple of guys here that clients would love to work with. Enrico Tiberi is a producer and a super-skilled musician and singer that's making a lot of remarkable things (including his own musicial projects). Sometimes I help him as a drummer or audio/editor for some of his jobs. Nicola Manzan is a violinist (multi-instrumentalist I must say) with a huge resume that clients would be happy to work with, also for arranging string sections. Hire them.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I work in the digital domain most of the time, apart from some analog outboard gear which undoubtedly helps. I think that the majority of people listen to music through deeply punishing audio formats and this is unavoidable. So there's no particular need today to work with full analog systems except for a little niche of audiophiles. Nevertheless I always try to be very near to that kind of warmth, just because I like that.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Playing drums or working on a musical matter as a technician is what I always wanted to do, since I was a kid. I don't see myself doing anything else.

A: Sometimes people think that when recording the simplest drum part, there's no reason to ask much money. The reality is that to be able to record a simple drum part, having a good flow and groove, requires a lot of skill and years of experience. And the result speaks for itself.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, bass and a guitar.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I'm into the music making since i was a kid. I started programming midi drums and arrangements in the late '80s with the glorious ATARI 1040stf and one of the first versions of Cubase ever. In the middle '90s I started playing drums with my first bands and I never stopped. In the past ten years I toured worldwide with different bands and recorded/engineered many albums by various artists (including mine).

A: When recording Heavy Metal drums with lots of double bass drum work, I use an electronic drum pad. This helps both for playing fast and to avoid bleed.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: I worked a lot for Heavy Rock, Progressive Rock, Heavy Metal records (as a drummer and as a sound engineer). I'm lately working on Hip-Hop productions and I always played drums for Funk and Soul bands.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: To be aware of what is too much.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: It depends on the client request and the level of artistic freedom I have while playing and recording. Sometimes I simply record what has been already planned, sometimes I make my own thing: I usually try to focus on the song and not on the rhythmical "tradition" of the "western" music. I like to explore different musical cultures and i love to come up with new and unconventional solutions.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: If I'm asked to record drums I typically work on a pre-production Cubase template using an electronic drumset triggered by top notch vst softwares. When the pre-production is accepted by the client, I transcribe what i played and recorded (if needed) and I start to mic up and track the drumset. When working on songs to be mixed (recorded by others) I typically ask raw files and I engineer them in Cubase, which I totally love for its quickness and easiness to work with. All files are sent back to the client in the agreed format.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I work in my home studio for most of the mixing/editing jobs. In case of recording drumsets or tracking other instruments, I cooperate with a couple of real good facilities in my area with lots of hi-standard mics (Shure, Neumann, Blue, Akg, etc.) and outboard (Focusrite, Lindell, Urei, Empirical Labs, Maselec, Motu, etc.).

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: As a drummer or producer/mixer I'm deeply influenced by musicians/artists who don't merely follow stereotypes and clichés. To think musically is the key to step forward and make music that's stimulating and newsworthy. So I am miles away from what the mainstream sound is dictating (in every musical genre).

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: The routine may vary in some cases: sometimes I'm asked to simply record drums, sometimes to write drums arrangement too (in this case I record for the client some examples to help him decide what works best). As a sound engineer I typically choose the best recording environment (it could be anywhere) but most of the times clients give me raw files and I just put them in my DAW and start mixing. That's a very simple process.

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BUSHI - Rolling Heads (Dischi Bervisti, 2017)

I was the drummer, recording technician, mixer/sound engineer, producer in this production

After a couple of gigs in Russia with Last Union (band which features James Labrie on vocals as guest in three songs of their debut album) I'm ready to start touring with other projects of mine. So I won't be available much in April for sessions. Please, if you are in need contact me now to schedule and organize. Cheers

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